2001/10/06 by B. Du, Binyang Du, Z. Yang +6
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Fluid Dynamics and Thin Films #Soft Condensed Matter (cond-mat.soft) #cond-mat.soft
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.cond-mat/0110123
10 pages, 2 plots, 3 images in jpg
arxiv created 2001/10/06 · openalex publication_date 2001/10/06 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We study dewetting of thin polymer films with built-in topographical fluctuations produced by rubbing the film surface with a rayon cloth. By varying the density of imposed surface defects, we unambiguously distinguish spinodal dewetting, which dominates in liquid films thinner than a characteristic thickness = 13.3 nm, from heterogeneous nucleation in the thicker films. Invariance of this characteristic thickness upon more than a decade change in the defect density makes kinetic effect an unseemly origin. A crossover of the spinodal line provides a consistent picture. This interpretation, however, contends the current understanding of molecular interactions in apolar liquid films.